Would You Fight The Stars
by PurpleYin
Summary: Everything starts to go wrong the day Cisco Ramon enters his life, or so he thinks at the time (things go wrong before that, Hartley later realizes - much later once he has a more level-headed perspective on events). Things also get a lot more complicated & that doesn't ever stop being the case. How Hartley's life crumbles down, how he builds it up again, in two very different ways


**A/N:** I started writing this late Dec 2017, shortly after watching S1 of The Flash because something in how Wells screwed over Hartley really resonated in me. Since canon didn't appear to be doing more with that, I wanted to explore what drove Hartley to such extremes when he was also a person willing to admit to being wrong when his colleagues, and the city, were on the line.

This first chapter covers the point up until when Hartley is fired in canon. I don't know when I'm going to get around to writing more because the following parts are much harder to write (I have about 1k on those so far), lots of whump/medical and technological things to figure out for those. One day I may write more, just no promises it's any time soon.

I wanted to post this chapter up as it is, sort of standalone for now, as part of Hartmonfest2019 and the prompt 'Hartley character fic'. The Cisco/Hartley in this is merely one-sided attraction, setup to this fic hopefully going more in that direction in much later chapters (so probably counts as slowburn) but for the time being this is working through why Hartley has that antagonism for him alongside other feelings he'd like to ignore.

Many thanks go to unwittingcatalyst and SophiaCatherine for betareading on this chapter, especially for their encouraging comments as I wrote this so long ago and got nervous about posting it.

* * *

**Stand Alone**

* * *

Harrison Wells was a man who knew strategy, one of the reasons Hartley so thoroughly enjoyed a game of chess with his mentor. When Cisco Ramon knocked on the glass partition to Hartley's office on his first day of work, searching for Wells, it was no coincidence he found him whilst Hartley was there to witness it. Wells wanted to present Ramon, wanted Hartley to see his competition.

Looking from the oblivious, awed engineer complete with a geeky t-shirt and then to Wells' neutral face glancing back at him, Hartley started to doubt his own win. It made him wonder if Wells could have thrown the game to put him in a better mood. Or to try to lull him into a sense of complacency before sweeping the rug out from underneath his feet. The game wasn't ever over with Wells. Wells reassured Hartley he was still his guy but with Wells words often said one thing yet meant another. Ramon was most definitely there to challenge him. Whether he would be temporary as Hartley predicted remained to be seen.

A week later and it had become painfully obvious Cisco and Hartley didn't get on. Cisco irked Hartley in no small way because he never let him have the last word. Ramon was technically competent but irreverent. He scoffed at Hartley's foreign turns of phrases, seemingly uncultured, or rather, popular cultured as he put it. And ever since Hartley had poured scorn on his t-shirt choice Ramon had taken it upon himself to wear the most blatantly geeky t-shirts possible. That they were relatively form-fitting did nothing to help his concentration when Ramon was around, which was almost constantly with him on the same team, though at least he managed to turn his stares to glares, thankfully concealing any sign of his body's embarrassing betrayal. Ramon might've been a pretty boy but looks wouldn't save his ass. Hartley waited to see how far Ramon would push his indiscretions with work protocols. He rankled him as much as possible, eager to see if he could shake loose something to use against him or at least disturb his concentration as much as Hartley found his worn down by the constant sniping.

But Cisco Ramon didn't break. Wells overlooked the lack of dress code, the lack of hygiene with the incessant eating, the lollipops, the red vines, near ceaseless chewing or sucking sounds surrounded him in his work environment. Hartley would have begged for some silence if it hadn't meant admitting some kind of defeat.

Months later, Ramon was still there. Still flaunting himself around the labs in brash colors, logos emblazoned, high fiving. Making friends, jovial with everyone, except him of course. Cisco was still in his face and he hated him more than ever. Wells would make a point to come visit their latest addition and take his time discussing developments. Hartley played nice when Wells was around, half out of respect and half because he wouldn't rise to the bait in front of Wells. Wells had to have known they'd bring out all the worst qualities in each other, he could only conclude he wanted that. Hartley could not entirely figure out why though.

He would watch Cisco with Wells, his jealousy simmering but contained until Wells was out of sight. He saved up all his best insults for Ramon. The ones in Spanish got to him the worst somehow. Hartley didn't feel remorse when Cisco was threatening not just his work, his reputation as the best, but his relationship with Wells. He'd earned Wells' respect the hard way and he'd become the closest thing he had to family since he'd been disowned. Ramon still had family at least and no shortage of friends. If there was one way Cisco was superior it was in social skills. He watched him goofing about with Snow and Raymond almost daily now. Lunch buddies. Before he knew it they were getting drinks, they celebrated the highs and commiserated the lows. Ramon had both kinds of family, the born and the chosen. Hartley only had his work, his name, and Wells.

It took some time for him to realize quite why Cisco being who he was bothered him so much, why the shirts and the fannish references, the unrepentant nerdiness, were infuriating. Concepts he understood, including psychological motivations, but actual people less so. Sometimes that applied to himself; he'd think he'd had a strong grasp of his emotions only to be blind-sided by some niggling idea that would explode in his face, further wrenching his weary heart.

Hartley was jealous of Cisco being himself. Hartley had had a lifetime of trying so hard to be better, despite himself. Being himself was what got him disowned. He could only hope to be accepted for his brilliance, as if that would outshine anything else, even if that strategy hadn't worked on his parents. Cisco got to be comfortable in his skin, whereas Hartley only knew how to hide, how to disguise who he was.

Cisco was more than competent, for the most part, and Cisco _did _get people. If there was anyone at the company Wells could use to replace Hartley it would be Cisco Ramon. If it was a challenge then Hartley felt like he was losing. Cisco was a threat to him, but he would go down fighting.

* * *

The day Harrison Wells fires him is the day his life starts to crumble around him. He tried to do the right thing and it was thrown back in his face. Everything he thought he knew about his mentor is fractured that day. He can't tell if Wells' ego is just that big he can't contemplate being wrong or if there's more to it he is unable to see. As security escort him out, there is confusion on his face. He keeps thinking and rethinking what happened, attempting to view it from an angle that makes sense, but there is none. There's just a deep ache inside where his heart is meant to be; he feels betrayed all over again.

* * *

When he comes back for his belongings the next day – the security team having had sufficient time to tear out anything sensitive from his notebooks, most of which are missing – there is a familiar face handing the box over to him.

Cisco has a smug smile and saunters out to greet him.

"You came outside especially for me, should I be flattered?" Hartley asks, hoping to wipe some of that smugness away. It doesn't work in the slightest.

"The only way this could be more satisfying would be if I'd gotten you fired myself but I'll just have to console myself with the fact it was you being yourself that got that job done. Or should I say, undone."

"Being myself? Oh, the irony. You really don't know me."

"Don't I? If I really don't then who's to blame? Oh yeah, you. You've done a first-class acting job as a jerk who makes everyone's jobs that much harder. No one will be sorry to see you go."

He should hate Cisco in that moment but his senses are taking over as the crushing reality lands. They do all despise him. Wells has blacklisted him. He doesn't have the advantage of his name or his reputation anymore and no one is going to stand up for him. It's suddenly harder to breathe. His eyes are watering. His hate is lost in fear and it isn't just fear for himself.

"Do you even know why I was fired, Cisco? Did you ask why the great Wells has suddenly turned his protégé out on the street?"

"Do I have to? There are so many tantalizing scenarios in my head for how you've got your comeuppance that it seems a shame to sully my imagination with the truth."

Cisco is reveling in his downfall and he doesn't entirely blame him when he would do the same. He hopes he can appeal to the engineer on his own terms - science.

"You've got to check the calculations. It isn't safe. Wells is a narcissist. He doesn't care about the danger he's putting people in."

"That's rich coming from you. And no, I don't got to do anything," Cisco says as he forces the box into Hartley's arms. "I trust Wells over you any day. "

That's the last time he sees Cisco Ramon whilst he is still merely human.


End file.
